Combination of brushes, brush holders, and brush handles



N. J. RAPTIS March 3, 1936.

COMBINATION OF BRUSHES, BRUSH HOLDERS, AND BRUSH HANDLES Filed Sept. 18, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 BY &. a;

ATTORNEY.

N. J. RAPTIS March 3, 1936.

COMBINATION OF BRUSHES, BRUSH HOLDERS, AND BRUSH HANDLES Filed Sept. 18, 1934 V 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 2 ,IIIIIIAIIIIII IM ATTORNEY.

N. J. RAPTIS March 3, 1936.

COMBINATION OF BRUSHES, BRUSH HOLDERS, AND BRUSH HANDLES w 5 QW m H m e v n S N I h 1, 10d m%\ N\ m N 3 e Q Q 3 6 w w l 8 1 p e s w n R F ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 3, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I COMBINATION OF BRUSHES, BRUSH HOLD- EBB, AND BRUSH HANDLES I This invention of mine is the result of more than forty years of personal experiences in the use of brushes as a painter of practically every kind of structure painted under all kinds of difflculties, circumstances and conditions, and said invention relates to a new and useful construction of brushes, brush-holders and brush-handles which, when used in coordinative and cooperative combinations, will avoid many of the hardships and diiilculties involved in the scrubbing, cleaning and painting of structures and articles and will save time, labor and expense.

Among the salient objects of my invention are:

1. To produce a brush which will collect the particles or drops of paint, which usually drip from the brush when'in use to the space below, into a reservoir provided in the brush-holder and I to cause such drops to return to the tip-end of the brush to be applied to the surface intended to be painted;

2. To produce a brush which can be easily adjustable to any practical angle with reference to the handle thereof so as to enable the user to reach and paint with it surfaces inaccessible with the ordinary brushes now in use;

3 To produce a brush which will be easily removable from its holder and substituted with a new brush, a larger brush, a smaller brush, or

with a brush of difierent shape, as the exigencies of the situation may require, so that when the bristles of a brush are worn out it will not be necessary to discard the entire thing, but it will be possible, and consequently economical, to discard only the worn out bristle part and to retain the holder and handle to which a new bristle portion can be attached.

The same will be true in cases where a hoeshaped brush is required. Instead of submitting to the necessity, as it is now done, of carrying a diiferent kind of a brush to meet these situations, my invention will enable the painter to adjust and transform a straight brush into a hoeshaped one;

4. To produce a brush to which a longer handle or pole may be attached and the paint-applying part of the brush to be capable of being adjusted to suit the convenience of the operator for eflicient work and service; and

5. To produce a brush which will be light in weight, durable in service, economic in manufacture, and which in itself will be adaptable to be used in any required place or manner without the operator being compelled to exchange or interchange a variety of brushes to meet a variety 'of conditions, situations and requirements.

These and many other features and advantages of my invention will be made clear and apparent as the specification proceeds.

In the drawings which form a part of this application, and which serve to illustrate, and in nowise to limit, the spirit of my invention:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation view of my invention showing the brush-holder, and brush attached, 10 in its normal position in full lines, while the various positions to which the brush holder and brush may be adjusted are indicated by dotted lines;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of my improved brush 15 showing the same completely assembled and in a normal position;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view of my invention showing the brush holder, the brush mounted therein, the brush handle and the inside 20 mechanisms of same;

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view of my invention showing further details of construction of the different parts thereof;

Figs. 5, 6 and '7 are transverse sectional views 25 of my invention taken on lines 5-5, 6-6 and 1-1 respectively of Fig. 3;

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 4 showing the various parts in the positions to which they are moved to enable the adjustment of the holder 30 in order to bring and lock the brush to' any position required by the operator;

Fig. 9 is a sectional plan view of my invention showing an adapter attached to the brush holder thereby illustrating how the brush holder may be 35 enabled'to accommodate brushes of any shape or size by attaching thereto, in the manner shown, an adapter corresponding in shape and size with the brush desired to be used;

Fig. 10 is a sectional side elevation of the 40 structure shown in Fig. 9.. I

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, wherein like numerals and characters represent like parts and positions.

Numeral l indicates the loose ends of the brush 45 which may be of any desired length, quality or character and which may be arranged to form any desired shape or size brush. The lower ends 2 of the bristles forming the brush are held to-- gether between an outer band 3 and an inner 50 ferrule 4. Thus held together, the lower ends of the bristles are dipped into a binding material such as rubber cement and then properly baked or vulcanized so as to cement them together and render them inseparable. After the bristles have been thus cemented together, either one or both of the bands may be removed or left'on, as requirements may dictate. I show them both in place while the brush is in use, but the same may be removed without aifecting the eiliciency of the brush.

The main and important thing is that the brush thus constructed is provided at the center of the bottom thereof with a slit or opening I for a purpose and function to be explained later.v

The above described brush is then fltted into the brush holder 8 which is provided with an elliptical flange I to receive the brush withinit and forms a cup-like opening which is open all the way down and leads into a reservoir 8. The lips of the elliptically shaped flange of the brush holder, forming the cup-like opening are inwardly bevelled at the edges as shown at s as are correspondingly bevelled the upper edges of the band 3 as shown at ID.

The obvious purposes and functions of the constructions above referred to, together with the novel construction of the brush formed with the slit or opening at the bottom thereof are to catch the drops of paint that gravitate toward the handle of the brush and to cause them to slip through the bristles, down through the slit or opening and into the reservoir 8. At proper intervals the operator may hold or operate the brush in an inverted position, holding the loose ends of the bristles downwardly, thereby causing the paint in the reservoir to flow to the end of the brush and be applied to the surface to be painted.

If necessary, the brush may be made fast to the brush holder by any suitable means such as shown at II.

The brush holder 6 is provided with a pair of ear-like depending flanges i 2, each of which is provided on the inner side thereof with an elongated rectangular slot l3.

Numerals l4 indicate two practically alike sections which when matched together form the handle of the brush and brush holder above described. This handle, when assembled, is T- shaped -in form and resembles a machinists hammer. The center of the head bulges out like the hub of a wheel, tapers out and is cut to provide flat circular surfaces at each end. Each section I of the handle is hollow so that when matched with the other there is formed on the inside thereof a slot or aperture of varying depths and dimensions. The hub-like partof the handle head is hollowed out as shown at I! to accommodate therein a wheel-like flange l6, having spindle-like arms I! extending outwardly from the center thereof, and passing through and beyond the circular apertures II in the head part of sections I I of the handle. The portions of the spindles I! which are in contact with the circular apertures I! are also circular, but the portions of said spindles which extend beyond the said circular apertures are rectangular in shape to match and flt in to the slots I 3 of the depending ear-like flanges of the brush holder 6.

These rectangularly shaped extensions, which are fitted in the slots l3 are held in place bysuch means as shown at I! in Fig. 2.

The wheel-like flange I 6, which is now located in the centre of the hollow space I5, on the inside of the hub-shaped handle head formed by sections I4, is provided along the perimeter thereof with radially bored holes 20, 2|, 2!, 23 and 24 for a purpose and function set forth below.

As stated above, the slot or aperture formed by the hollowed out portions of sections ll extends through the whole lengthof the inside of the handle and is divided into three comparatively large compartments ll, 2' and 28 which interconnected to form a continuous e by the relatively smaller openings in the center of the portion walls 21, 28 and 2!.

Aplungerrodil oarryingacoilspringll is laid in the opening or aperture of the hollow handle section 30 that the coil spring carried by the rod lies in compartment 25 and is kept under a compressed tension by causing its lower end to press against partition wall 2! and its upper end to press against a lug pin 32 pierced through near the upper end of the plunger rod, said lug pin being made to abut against partition wall 21 thereby limiting the upward movement of the rod 30.

The extreme upper end of rod 3| passes through partition wall 21 into the hub cavity II and interengages with any of the radially bored holes 20, 2|, 2!, It or 24, whichever one may be brought in direct line with it.

The lower end of the plunger rod is provided with a section 33 which is rotatably hinged thereto and which section 33 in turn has mounted thereon a vertically movable section 34, said section 34 having a lug 35 adapted to be turned along with section 33 and to be brought in interengagement with slot in the wall ofthe aperture which leads from compartment 28 to the outer end of the brush handle.

Section 34 on section II is provided with a ring 31 at its extreme outer end for the Purpose of enabling the operator to turn the rotatably hinged section a so that the lug as may be brought into interengagement with slot 30, and said section 34 is further provided with screw threads 38 to receive the screw threaded nut ll whereby the vertically movable section II may be drawn outwardlytolock thelugllagainsttheslotfl and thus keepthe entire plungerrodinaflxedposition.

Sections ll of thebrushhandlearecircularat their lower ends and are provided with two inset portions. One inset portion begins from the lower end and terminates at a shoulder I and the other inset portion begins at shoulder II and terminates at shoulder ll.

Theinsetportionbetweentheendandshoulder 40 is smooth; theinset portion between shoulders 40 and isthreadedasshownatflinlflg. 8.

When sections II are matched together, the threadsoneachsectionmeetandformonecontinuous threaded cylindrical surface.

Numeral 43, Fig. 8, d a thimbleshaped nut whose inside walls are whose outside surface is threaded and whose bottom is apertured. This thimble-shaped nut 43 is slidably mounted over the smooth inset portion of sections ll between the end thereof and shoulder II. The screw threads on the outer surface oi'flareofthesamepitchandsizeasthoseon the surface of the inset portion between shoulders lll and I so that when against shoulder II the entire outside surface of the brush handle from the outer end thereof to shoulder II is uniformly In case, therefore, it is desirable or expedient to lengthen the brush handle a pole, such as shown at 44 having fastened thereon an interiorly screwthreaded socket I! is screwed onto the thelipsofllabutup brush handle until the mouth of thesocketabuts against shoulder 4|, thereby el ngating the handle and sealing the joint against the possibility of any paint seeping in between the threads of the handle and pole socket.

It is to be noted that, as shown at Fig. 3, the thimble-shaped nut 43 has an aperture at the center of its bottom which is adapted to receive the neck of nut 39 and that the flange of nut 39 comes flat against the end of nut 43; this arrangement allows the operator to adjust the brush by pulling back the plunger rod either by the ring 31 or by thimble nut 43. When the plunger rod is pulled back so that its upper end is disengaged from the apertures 20 to 24, the brush holder 6 is turned to any of the positions shown from A to E in Fig. 1, the plunger rod is turned loose and is forced by the tension of the coil spring to enter. the aperture on its path, then section 33 is given a turn until lug 35 engages slot 36, then nut 39 is screwed in, the lug is tightened against the slot and the brush is flxed and locked in position.

It is further to be noted that the thimblenut 43 has on the interior thereof an upwardly projecting pin 46 which engages into an aperture 41 on one of the handle sections l4. The purpose and function 01' this arrangement is to always keep the threads on the outer surface of the thimble nut in perfect alignment with threads and to prevent it from getting out of alignment. This structure is best shown in Fig. 3.

Attention is also drawn to the adapter 43 in Figs. 9 and 10. This consists of a separate accessory made to accommodate a brush of any desirable size or shape and is adapted to be fltted over and attached to the brush holder as shown in Figs. 9 and 10.

Handle sections l4 may be held together by means of screws as shown at 48 in Figs. 1 and 2, or they may be constructed with overlapping or interengaging flanges and eliminate the screws altogether as shown at Figs. 9 and 10.

It is clear from the foregoing description and from the illustrations in the drawings accompanying this application that I have invented a new and useful combination of brushes, brush And while I have not deemed it necessary to describe in every minute detail the various uses that this invention can be put to, yet it is obvious that instead of a paint brush a scrub or wire brush may be attached to the brush holder of my invention and be used to as great advantages as the paint brush. I, therefore, reserve the right to any and all uses that this invention may be put to, and to any and all similar devices which may hereafter be manufactured and which may properly fall within the spirit and scope of this invention.

Having thus described, set forth and illustrated my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In combination with a brush and a brush holder detachabiy connected to each other, a pair of depending flanges on the brush holder, a pivot rod across the pair of depending flanges and means for holding the pivot rod between the depending flanges, a series of indentations .on the 1 space between them, a hollow handle pivotally mounted on said bar, a rod in the hollow of the handle and resilient means for pressing the rod against the bar.

3. In combination with a brush and a brush handle pivotally mounted thereon, a spring actuated rod in the handle, a thimble-like nut slidably mounted on the lower end of the handle, said thimble-like nut having a perforation on the bottom thereof, the lower end of the spring actuated rod passing through said perforation, a nut screwed on the protruding end of said rod and in contact with the thimble-like nut, and interlocking means between the handle and the thimble-like nut to prevent the latter from any rotary motion.

4. The combination set forth in claim 3 with a portion of the handle and the entire outer portion of the thimble-like nut being screwthreaded.

NICHOLAS J. RAPTIS. 

